Pages

"I have never welcomed the weakening of family ties by politics or pressure" - Nelson Mandela."He who travels for love finds a thousand miles no longer than one" - Japanese proverb."Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence." - Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights."When people's love is divided by law, it is the law that needs to change". - David Cameron.

Tuesday, 11 June 2013

'Some readers may be a little confused as to why Vince and I have moved back to the UK and Stacey remains in the US.

'Basically in July 2012, new rules were brought in to curtail British people bringing their partners and family members into the country if they are non-EU citizens. Not just folks from those funny sounding countries either, but Americans, Australians, South Africans - you know, our friends.

'The upshot of which is that in order to bring your partner, you have to find a job earning a minimum amount of money (£18,600), to sponsor them for two years and an additional £2,400 for each non-EU child. Vince is dual so doesn't count in that equation but Stacey does which is why my freelance Social Media/Consulting business is on ice and I'm working for Bloggs and Son to meet this figure so Stacey can come over. It is ostensibly to stop her signing on the dole when she arrives, which of course is foremost in any immigrants mind but also disallows third party sponsorship, so even if I was the son of Richard Branson or Alan Sugar, this would not be taken into consideration.

'The Visa processing process takes two to three months itself and costs £850 to apply. Stacey has to apply from the United States, cannot do it from the UK, and has to hand over her passport in the process to make sure there are no sneaky trips to, you know, see her son and husband in the meantime. There is also no right of appeal if the request is turned down so you'd better make damn sure you've got all your ducks in a row...

'The reason the rule was brought in is a classic example of realpolitik.
The government wants to reduce immigration so it can go to the polls in
2015 and say - "Look, we reduced immigration!". There are several
methods to do this but the one they have decided on impacts non-EU
citizens immigration rules, which they can control as opposed to EU
citizens free movement which they can't. So, by erecting barriers to
non-EU citizens, the number of successful applications falls,
immigration goes down and it's a policy triumph. Regardless of how many
families and homes are split up in the process. Japanese and Chinese
research students go to more welcoming universities in the US, taking
their goodwill, money and brains with them, willing immigrants from
countries that are our past and present allies linger on the sidelines
whereas citizens from countries with a dubious grip on human rights,
rule of law etc, yes Russia & Dubai, we're looking at you, can have
the red carpet rolled out if they have £62,500 in the bank. I should
have mentioned that the Government has left a loophole for 'high value'
migrants that have that amount of spare income.

'As a last insult, the rule does not apply to non-British EU citizens and
their non-EU partners so Jose from Ireland and his American wife or
Bert from Spain with his Brazilian partner can bring them in as soon as
they get to a wifi access point to submit the paperwork.

'I never thought it would be easier for me to emigrate into the US than
Stacey to come here but there we are. I hope this sheds some light on
the frustrations and outright outrageous unfairness we face in trying to
reunite our family in the UK. Expat message boards
are full of heart breaking stories of families breaking up and British
citizens being forced into exile just to keep their families together.